Monthly Archives: August 2010

(This is a continuation of The Gospel Truth video blog series. This post assumes the prerequisite watching of earlier videos in the series. Click the link above to watch the entire series up to this week’s installment.)

A great storm is stirred up each time the terms “Lordship” and “gospel” are uttered in the same sentence; let alone the same title of a message. This debate involves what is described as “Lordship Salvation;” a theological debate with substantially sound doctrinal minds on both sides.

This post is, of course, not about Lordship Salvation as a subject; but a continuation of this series on the gospel at the point in which the issue is raised that “Lordship” of Christ is in fact at issue in the very subject matter of repentance.

As has been observed the past few weeks: faith is demonstrated in scripture to be an active response to belief rather than just an academic acknowlegement of certain facts. That response is repentance. Repentance is defined as a turning “from” one’s former understanding and allegiances “to” the trust in Christ.

This act of turning, it will be demonstrated today, is consistently decribed in scripture as an acquiescence to the Lordship of Christ: a confession to his deity and belief that He is the Son of God; and is God incarnate as he said. Such acknowledgment is not synonymous with stating that a new convert “must give every aspect of their lives to Christ” at the moment of salvation – for no sinner even knows “every aspect” of their lives which Christ will demand. Yet, such an acknowledgment is an affirmation to the person of Christ as God himself. As such, a person necessarily at least begins the process of acquiescence – which will be described next week as the process of “sanctification” – by the very turning in faith to Christ as God.

Thus, the idea of “confessing with your mouth that Jesus is Lord” is not a preconditioned “work” which mandates certain identifyable steps. It is rather the very element of faith expressed in repentance: the knowlege – by faith – of who Christ is. He is Lord.

(This is a continuation of the “Interpreting The Bible“ video blog series. This post assumes the prerequisite watching of earlier videos in the series. Click the link above to watch the entire series up to this week’s installment.)

A double header “catch up” video is posted this week for the Interpreting the Bible course.

Part 9 is a continuation of the examination of the past several weeks of The Golden Rule of interpretation; with further examples to assist us in determining – from the context – when a text should be interpreted figuratively and when not.

Part 10 introduces a new law; The Law of Dual Reference. This law explains that prophetic texts, at times, are fulfilled in more than one historical event. In such cases, the prophet writes as if he speaks of one event, yet the fulfillment reveals that only a portion of the text will be fulfilled at one time.

There are a few manners in which dual reference may unfold. Today’s study in Part 10 will discuss what is probably the more difficult to grasp, the rare Typeographical form of dual reference; when a prophecy speaks of a type, or form, of fulfillment which is thought fulfilled in scripture, but is later revealed to have not been fully fulfilled.

I do not remember the exact context, but several weeks ago one of the airy-voiced DJ’s on our local Christian radio station was speaking about a difficult week that she had recently experienced. She spoke of what I consider to be very standard worries involving widely normal life scenarios; akin to perhaps a broken washing machine. Let’s make sure we understand each other: no one was being martyred for the cause of Christ. No one was under intense persecution out of retribution for the preaching of the gospel. No one had been accosted, jailed, stoned, or hanged. It was just a “hard week” in the typical, American, “I was actually inconvenienced” sort of way. Continue reading →

(This is a continuation of The Gospel Truth video blog series. This post assumes the prerequisite watching of earlier videos in the series. Click the link above to watch the entire series up to this week’s installment.)

Understanding that Grace is the essential foundation upon which salvation is granted still leaves one to ponder the process by which such grace is applied to the sinner’s account. Ephesians, as noted in last week’s installment, states that this “salvation by grace” is installed “through faith.”

Sadly, pondering that conclusion will profoundly confuse many who live in the “new ecumenicism” of our modern culture, which defines “faith” as everything from God’s magic potion to man’s deeper intuition, depending on whether one gets their theology from “christian” (small C intended) television or modern liberal Jesus fad-books which teach a newer, milder variant of salvation in which one is truly not redeemed at all (for there is no true penalty for sins). Which of these “faith” definitions should one pursue to understand the gospel’s path of application?

Simply stated, theological truth is not democratically produced nor deconstructed in focus group meetings. The Bible’s own definition of faith is that which counts. Such will be the focus of today’s continued examination of The Gospel Truth.

(This is a continuation of the “Interpreting The Bible“ video blog series. This post assumes the prerequisite watching of earlier videos in the series. Click the link above to watch the entire series up to this week’s installment.)

In the previous post The Golden Rule of Interpretation was introduced. This rule prevents the interpreter from arbitrarily “spiritualizing” or improperly creating symbolic truths out of a text that should be treated literally.

This week’s study focuses on the application of this rule by examining several passages in light of its principles.

(This is a continuation of the “Interpreting The Bible“ video blog series. This post assumes the prerequisite watching of earlier videos in the series. Click the link above to watch the entire series up to this week’s installment.)

Over the next several weeks we will be examining certain “laws” which govern the norms of interpretive processes. These laws are rules which do not apply only to the Bible, but almost any work which is to be interpreted. As such, they are very common-sense-oriented principles which are understood and taken from granted by even school-age children as they read their age-appropriate stories.

Today’s rule is known by many as “The Golden Rule of Interpretation;” stating at it’s core: “if the common sense reading of a text makes sense, seek no other sense.” How much the false teachers of our Wolves in Wool series could learn from what their children already take for granted!

(This is a continuation of The Gospel Truth video blog series. This post assumes the prerequisite watching of earlier videos in the series. Click the link above to watch the entire series up to this week’s installment.)

Ingrained into the psyche of our culture is an almost unquenchable merit-based gospel. It seems that everything from good ol’ boy music to water cooler banter have determined that if one is “good enough,” then surely a nod and a kind word can be expected from the Lord at the judgment. When people on the streets are asked if they expect to enter Heaven when they die, invariably the majority of responses deal with one’s work ethic, kindness to neighbors and general “goodness” which is expected to be taken into account as that decision is reached.

Truth be told, all are guaranteed to get what we have earned when we face the Lord. Scripture declares that with great specificity. It declares also however, that our earnings will amount to death and that our best works are as filthy rags. Indeed, the entire law – without Christ’s fulfilling and gracious act of atonement – points to a singular conclusion for all: there are none who are righteous. None who can uphold God’s standard. None who even desire what is good. We couldn’t compile the conglomerate “goodness” of all history and afford to send even one of us into God’s presence.

(This is a continuation of the “Interpreting The Bible“ video blog series. This post assumes the prerequisite watching of earlier videos in the series. Click the link above to watch the entire series up to this week’s installment.)

This week’s installation in the Interpreting the Bible course is a bit of a side-bar in observation of various tools that will be required for the coursework at hand. This post will tout the benefits of a good computer Bible program and go over various types of support materials for biblical study, including Bibles, commentaries, concordances and other pertinent tools.